"Jack!"

The cry when he answered the phone ripped right through him. It was the kind of cry Gwen had let out when Rhys was dead and he knew the Master had found them. He had found Gwen and Rhys and their baby and he felt so completely inadequate that he just wanted to crawl away and hide.

"It's okay," he answered.

"They took her, Jack." Her voice was broken by sobs and there was an underlying tone of the need to kill something that Jack understood only too well.

"It's okay," he repeated.

"It's not okay!" she screamed, her voice pitching out over the phone's speakers to carry to the others in the room. "If he hurts her I swear on this fucking planet I will kill you!"

He didn't say anything.

What could he say?

"Jack-" He heard a clatter and realised she had just collapsed. "Say something. Do something."

He considered for less than ten seconds before he arrived at a suitable solution. "Go to the safe in my office. The pass code is 4-15-3-20-15-18. Find the device marked RD4. Use it." He gripped the phone tighter. "Gwen, while there is breath in my body, I will ensure nothing happens to your daughter. Do you understand me?"

There was a loud sniff. "Yes."

"Good. Do it now." He hung up the phone. Who took a child as a hostage? Who was that much of a coward?

No one respected the rules of war anymore.

He turned to the Brigadier. "The Master has initiated hostile action against the people in my command." He took a deep breath, desperately hoping that this wouldn't backfire horribly. "Request permission to call in a few favours from off world friends to find him."

The Brigadier looked at him dubiously. "Friends?"

Jack nodded. "They will do whatever it takes to help me find him."

"Are any of these friends likely to blow up the planet?"

Jack bit the inside of his cheek. "They will do whatever it takes to neutralize the Master."

The Brigadier still didn't look convinced. "I'll have to clear it with my superiors."

Jack nodded, already dismissing him, and turned to Jenny. "You can fight?"

Jenny inclined her head slightly, a hint of amusement playing across her features as Jack flipped his phone open again as soon as the Brigadier left the room.

"And you can kill?" He raised the phone to his ear. "No matter what the Doctor's taught you."

"Yes, sir."

He nodded sharply and turned his back on her as someone picked up at the other end of the line.

"I don't care who you're doing or what time it is," he growled. "I need a favour."

As he listened to the response a look caught between amusement and disgust swept across his face. "Fuck off, John. Just get down here." He paused. "Please."

The Doctor looked on with slightly widened eyes as the Master sank back to his knees, holding his head and just screaming. His initial urge to help was swept aside as another force of pain racked through his body. He curled into a ball and bit down on his hand, trying to keep as quiet a possible.

Martha's eyes flicked between the three aliens above her. The Doctor looked to be in a lot of pain and she itched to go to his side, to use her limited knowledge of alien anatomy to help.

The alien's head was moving between the Doctor and the Master like it was watching a rather fast paced tennis match. In Martha's opinion, it looked extremely frazzled.

"What did I do?!" It hopped from one foot to another.

The Doctor let out a muffled grunt from behind his hand.

"Was it something I said?" It looked close to tears.

The Master collapsed sideways, shaking violently.

"No no no... Look, I'm putting away the gun!" It waved its arms about and then deposited its gun in its holster.

Martha slowly began to move around the console towards the stairs, just as the Doctor jerked and a glow of energy left his body and floated into the TARDIS walls.

The alien was still for a moment, before the gun was back out. The Doctor had the distinct urge to comment that if the alien thought that was what all the fuss was about in the first place, it would hardly help reintroducing it into play.

People with guns are stupid, he thought.

He gripped the console with one hand and pulled himself up, swaying slightly. "I- I do not... recognise your right to... point that at me."

The alien glanced at its gun. "Fly it," it hissed, motioning at the TARDIS.

The Doctor crossed his arms. "I very well shall not. You see..." He skipped around the console. "This bit's broken. Don't actually remember what it did anyway, but it's a matter of principle. I'm pretty sure the dematerialisation circuit is fried and oh yeah." He bounced over to the alien. "Do you know what a chameleon circuit is? We can't possibly take off with that on the fritz."

Martha chose that moment to show herself again, which the Doctor thought was exceedingly polite, letting him finish and everything. She was armed with a baseball bat, which was perfectly fine in his book. Sometime you had to hit things after all. Hitting things was good.

Actually, no, he didn't think that's how it went.

Martha made her move, slipping out of the shadows next to the alien and aiming carefully at the back of its head. It fell with a clunk and Martha hit it again just for good measure.

"Martha!" He sounded overjoyed.

"Doctor!" She ginned and ran forwards.

He seized her by the shoulders and held her at arm's length. "Martha!"

She frowned slightly, not sure what to do. "Doctor?"

He suddenly hugged her, pulling her off her feet. "Martha!"

She laughed into his slightly longer hair. "Are you all right?"

"Hmm..." He considered. "Am I all right?" He prodded himself in the chest. "Well, I'm in one piece, which all in all, I'm quite happy with. That's not always the way, you know." He looked rather serious.

"Can I do anything to help?"

There was a clattering from behind her and the Doctor smoothly shifted her till he was in between the Master and her. "Get the alien's gun and any other weapons it has."

The Doctor moved forwards slowly, reaching the Master in a few steps and dropping to one knee. "Master?" He reached out a hand to fist in the back of his hoody and rolled him over.

The Master's eyes immediately flew open, half focused.

He is here.

He shook his head from side to side sharply.

The TARDIS is here.

The Doctor stilled his head with a hand on his chin. "Master?"

Take them.

"Can't breathe..." It wasn't letting him.

"I've got you. You're all right." The Doctor slowly shrugged himself out of his great coat and laid it beneath the Master's head. "You're safe now."

The Master felt like laughing. "No, not safe. Never safe. They got into my head. They did things." He turned his head away, not wanting the Doctor to see the tears threatening to fall.

Take him!

The Doctor swallowed sharply. "I can help. I've always been able to Master. Just let me."

"What can you help with?" The Master hissed, raising himself to the same height as the Doctor. "All you've ever done is make it hurt."

The Doctor felt the words hit him hard and could hardly keep the distraught out of his eyes. He had to keep control. Falling to regeneration sickness wouldn't help either of them.

We need him.

The Master reached out a hand, burying it in the Doctor's shirt. "Need you. I need you. You're needed. If you go away it will hurt." He raises his eyes to the Doctor's. "Don't go away again?"

The Doctor stared down at the Master. Wasn't it ironic that the only times they were truthful were when they were dying?

"I'm not going anywhere." He made to wrap his arms around the other man but faltered, not sure of the reaction that would receive.

TAKE HIM!

The Master moved suddenly, crashing into the Doctor and sending him backwards. His hands crackled with electricity as he wrapped them around the Doctor's throat.

His eyes glowed black and red.

Author's Note: 4-15-3-20-15-18 is a very simple code, changing letters into numbers. And I've always liked John, you can't hold it against me. :P